Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department.

Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement.

Acquisition and Processing Information: John Vander Maas began donating his vast collection of railroadiana to the University of Iowa in 1985. Most of this particular series was donated in 1989-1990. It was initially processed in November 2008-January 2009.

Photographs: approx. 45,000

Scope and Contents

This series consists of scrapbooks - some bound, some consisting of disbound pages foldered together and from which the photographs have been subsequently removed and enveloped- that contain photographs of trains, engines, train cars, and other railroad-related equipment. Railroads depicted include freight, passenger, and urban transit. The material is alphabetically organized by the name of the railroad or the company that owned and operated the train depicted (and occasionally by location, such as a terminal or a country). The collection follows Vander Maas' original order, so subjects may appear occasionally out of alphabetical order. A few images are actually postcards, rather than photographs.

Subseries I originally consisted of loose pages disbound from scrapbooks at one time, probably by Vander Maas. They have been removed from the acidic pages and are now being stored in acid-free photo envelopes.

The images in Subseries I tend towards those of passenger and urban transit. The date range for these images is much wider than that of the bound books in Subseries II. The bound scrapbooks in Subseries II date more frequently from the latter half of the 20th century, and tend more heavily towards images of engines, freight cars, and other non-passenger equipment. (Vander Maas identified many, though not all, of these bound books as "Power and Equipment".) Many railroads and companies have images in both series.

Most of the images have handwritten notes accompanying them that provide additional information, such as the engine number or type, location, or date.

Most of the images date from the 20th century. The earliest image in the collection, of the Philadelphia and Reading, dates from 1847 (although the photograph itself is of a later date).

The collection is divided into two series. The box list for Subseries II: Bound Books can be found here.

Biographical Note

John Vander Maas grew up loving railroads. The tracks for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q) railroad ran behind the cottage on the Mississippi River at Sandusky, Iowa, where he spent his summers, and he had fond memories of receiving items and gifts sent by rail freight. Though he worked as a special agent for the CB&Q during World War II, Vander Maas spent most of his adult life working in agribusiness. He nourished his love of trains by collecting railroad memorabilia. Beginning in 1985 he gave his extensive collection to the University of Iowa Libraries. (See his experiences in his own words at Early Reminiscences of Railroads.)